Greyhawk says: “I’d like the idea entertained that corporations pay no taxes,” So much for the myth of the corporate person. Would you let Exxon/Mobile keep all the money they have gouged since Katrinia? Please note that came out of your pocket. Now if I tell a hospital I’m here for a tonsilectomy what happens if they amputate my foot. Please don’t be sarcastic, mistakes like that happen every day at a hospital. I used to work in one. My only option should be free health care? The person in the story repeatedly told the workers no cheese. If I place an order should I not get exactly what I order? Now as to the finger thing, I agree and if I remember correctly the two people were prosecuted for fraud and Wendy’s won a civil action against their future earnings as well. The system can work both ways. Greyhawk, I hope I'm not coming across as sarcastic in the following. Here are my thoughts: You are right about the corporation being treated as an individual under the law; a corporate person being a myth especially since many like Exxon/Mobile are international rather than American. Concerning corporations paying federal income taxes, they should not, the same as business and individuals should not. One reason is because the influence of corporations has largely resulted in the mess we now have for tax law. Their corporate attorneys and lobbyists have twisted the IRS into so many knots they'd rather audit you and me! So, not only do corporations avoid taxes through off-shore banking schemes and high priced attorneys, they have made tax avoidance an art form. This would all go away under the FairTax. Corporations would pay tax at the retail level just like everyone else and they could then bring the billions off-shore home (which would be good for the economy) and dump their tax attorneys and lobbyists. I can't understand why oil depletion tax allowances continue to exist. The oil companies themselves have repeatedly said they don't need the tax write-offs. Concerning hospital mistakes, my point was that the individual shouldn't necessarily be able to sue for so much that he's wildly wealthy for the rest of his life. Yet hospitals shouldn't get of easily either. There has to be a balance. Free health care as part of a settlement was mentioned as an option, just an idea. It was just a thought. If you place an order with a food service thing, you should get what you ordered, of course. But if you are deathly allergic to cheese wouldn't you open up the burger and look inside? But this doesn't set McDonalds free of all responsibility - don't get me wrong. To repeat something I'd said earlier, corporations don't really pay taxes anyway. They pass that expense on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. With the FairTax all would pay taxes at the retail level including corporations and the federal government. A corporation pretending to pay federal income tax is sort of like a state having both state income tax and state sales tax. It's redundant and unnecessary. Additionally if corporations are "set free" from paying taxes, they should also be forced into real competition with each other, straining to give the consumer the best possible price and paying with large fines and mandatory jail time for secret cartels and price fixing. Hope this is an adequate set of answers. Grimmy

  Whore Post Bush entered risky rhetorical territory - likening the war in Iraq to Vietnam. It's an analogy Bush typically avoids, given how strongly Vietnam is associated in the national consciousness with the concept of quagmire -- and with its lesson about the limits of American military power. But Bush tried to turn the Vietnam analogy on its head, arguing that the U.S. withdrawal led to disaster there and emboldened American enemies around the globe. He even went so far as to argue that present-day terrorists like bin Laden are inspired by the turning of American public opinion against the war in Vietnam. Bush's speech was a big hit at the Kansas City VFW, but it's hard to imagine that it will go over nearly as well with a wider audience -- not to mention with historians. The obvious lesson of Vietnam is not that leaving a quagmire leads to disaster, but that staying only makes things worse. (And oh yes: that we shouldn't get into them in the first place.)

Michael Vick wanted to prove how tough he was, so he volunteered to go into a room with bin Laden, Hitler, and Charles Manson. He said, "I ain't goin' in there without my gun and my guard dog." So, they gave him a gun with three bullets, and a pit bull. Vick and the dog entered the room, saw Manson, Hitler, and bid Laden ....and then Vick shot the dog three times.

 Link As Karl Rove exits stage right with his ruined dreams of rightist hegemony, all the political signs and portents tell us that America is turning the other way. No doubt the departing 'boy genius' would dispute that assertion as liberal wishful thinking, as would many on the right. But they cannot so easily dismiss The Economist, an avowedly conservative voice that is among the oldest and most respected periodicals in the world. Framing the shift on the cover of its Aug. 11 issue with a question - 'Is America turning left?'- the magazine’s editors conclude in their lead essay that the answer is yes, probably. 'Having recaptured Congress last year, the Democrats are on course to retake the presidency in 2008,' which blames the destruction of the vaunted Republican machine on the ideological excess and breathtaking incompetence of Bush as well as the sleaziness of the G.O.P. leadership in Congress."

 LA Times "The CIA never developed an overall strategy for confronting Al Qaeda and let precious resources and capabilities go unused in the years leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks, according to an internal investigation that the agency had fought to keep secret for the last two years. The report from the agency's inspector general, declassified Tuesday, adds disturbing new details to an already extensive public record of Sept. 11-related failures. Among them was the revelation that long before the attacks, as many as 60 officers in the CIA had seen cables indicating that two Al Qaeda operatives -- who went on to reside in San Diego -- had entered the United States or possessed travel documents that would let them do so. The report, which was completed in 2005, also made the case that George Tenet and other top officials should face further scrutiny within the agency to determine whether they should be reprimanded for having any roles in the breakdowns." Bart says: Reprimanded? Bush gave him a medal for doing such a great job!

I wondered, “Why are some liberals against going to a FairTax?” Then an acquaintance of mine hit me over the head with the obvious and the dawn came: It’s because the idea is being put forward by Neal Boortz, a right-wing conservative talk show radio guy. I can’t help that. I’ve never even heard Boortz talk show. Just the same, the FairTax is an excellent idea. Why don’t you liberals take the idea as your own? The Great and All Powerful Rush Limbaugh (whose radio show I’m not worthy to listen to) says Clinton took away ideas from conservatives and adopted them during his presidential campaigns. So why not you? The idea is bigger than the man. The FairTax is an excellent idea (so say I) which is worthy of exploration. Have any of you had to tussle with the IRS? This proposal would get the IRS entirely out of individual’s lives. No more 1040’s. No more federal income tax. No more social security tax. No more tax taken out of seniors’ social security checks. Please get a copy of the FairTax book and secretly (under the blankets with a flashlight) read it. You will be delighted. In the book are answers to questions such as “How does this benefit the poor?” The FairTax can easily become a Democrat sponsored idea. I don’t care; I just want it for our country.